Who knows when to use who versus whom?

My husband and I just celebrated the one-year anniversary of adopting our dog. He’s been such a wonderful addition to our family, and we’ve given him the life of a very pampered pooch.

If you’re in the US you’ll have seen those paw-shaped bumper stickers that say, “Who Rescued Who?” I’ve even thought about getting one. Except… I can’t bring myself to because they irritate me to no end! While I love my canine and completely agree with the sentiment of those stickers, they’re grammatically incorrect. You see, who is a subject pronoun. Who does the action of the verb. If the pronoun is the object of the verb — that is, if the pronoun receives the action of the verb — use whom.

There’s an easy trick to determine whether to use who or whom. Rewrite your sentence using he or him in place of who or whom. Let’s take that bumper sticker as an example. “Who rescued who” may not sound wrong, but “He rescued he” certainly does! You can see that it would be “He rescued him” so those stickers should read, “Who Rescued Whom?” Now, who is with me to correct them?

Wendy Wood
Proofreader

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